Science Answers Why Potato Chips Makes Us Happy!Diet & Fitness

Are you craving for potato chips though you promised yourself to not eat greedily, indeed whatsoever chips? And as soon as you get one, you can without a hitch finish the whole packet even if you don’t need it.

Plain salted chips or spicy chips, any kind are tempting that you actually cannot stop at one or two. And well, there is nothing wrong with you since there is a scientific reason behind why we cannot stop at just a few chips.

Several researchers have endeavored to study what is it in these chips that make them so tempting even if they are just plain salted. The answer lies in a condition called 'hedonic hyperphagia,' a condition linked to overeating.

Hedonic Hyperphagia

Also known as Hedonic hunger, the condition is a drive to eat obtain pleasure in the absence of energy deficit. Specific foodstuff contains high "hedonic rating" otherwise individuals may have increased susceptibility to environmental food cues.

Reason Behind Potato Chips Being so Tempting

According to initial research, any sort of foods that contain a high ratio of fats and carbohydrates are tempting. Nevertheless, it is not just these two elements.

Potato chips are well-known for two things- salt and fat. Salt is said to cause the hormone of dopamine which controls your brain's pleasure. When dopamine is released, you start feeling happy and comfortable. And thus when you eat the first chip, it releases a bit of dopamine which makes you crave for more.

Research Findings

For the study published in the ‘Journal of nutrition’, the researchers said salt is more of a factor for why people eat more. For this study, they had 48 volunteers who were told to eat as much as they can during 4 separate lunch courses. All the meals have different quantities of salt and fat contents. Over a period of four weeks, the participants were told to try it.

The results showed participants ate 11 percent more food when the sauce was extra salty. When the fat source was more, participants ate 60 percent more calories. Therefore when there is less salt in the food, it is easier to control your desire to eat more.

Similar research was carried out by a team at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, in Erlangen, Germany. They proved on rats by giving them potato chips and bland chow and studied their brain activity by hi-tech machines. In both the foods, the number of fats and carbohydrates was the same but the group that ate the potato chips was found to be more active. Although carbohydrates and fats also a high source of energy, the rats had the chips most actively and the standard chow with least interest.